Eek, you know a film series has dropped off when the third entry, 2018’s Malevolence 3: Killer, doesn’t even have a Wikipedia entry! Nonetheless, I completed my viewing of the trilogy with that last installment over the weekend. Stevan Mena, who is back to direct, produce, write, edit, and do the music, decided to increase the blood-letting and the boob-showing. The first two movies were rather sexless, whereas this installment showed three different women undressed and two of those nude. And two of the three, I’m certain, we didn’t get their character names until they were already dead.
I mentioned in my prior two reviews of the other two films that Mena seemed to be doing homages to horror films, first Halloween and then The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. With Killer, I feel like he’s back to Halloween, and specifically, the sequel. Just like with the first Halloween sequel, Killer picks up immediately after the night of the events from the first film. And just like the Halloween sequel, Killer also has our killer, Martin Bristol, stalking the suburbs and presumably winding (and killing) his way back to his birth mother to kill her.
On the way, he encounters three college girls, their respective boyfriends or would-be boyfriends, a neighbor’s family, including a little girl on the run after her parents are murdered by Bristol, and a few other miscellaneous characters. Meanwhile, the FBI is conducting the most inept manhunt known to man to find Bristol and protect his birth mother from him.
Honestly, while I appreciate returning to a similar vibe as the first film versus the confused mash-up of the second, Mena’s heart doesn’t seem as into this one. He told the story he wanted to tell with Bereavement. There’s not much of a story for him left to tell and it shows here in production quality and the writing. Mena also doesn’t seem to have the same budget to play with as he did with the prior film.
To be fair, I’m a sucker for the serial killer in the ‘burbs premise, and Bristol’s back to hunting and stalking, which makes for some tense moments. And I do have to give credit to Katie Gibson, who plays Ellie, the primary “final girl” in the film. She gives the best performance of anyone across the three films: sincere and strong, two great traits for a “final girl.” So, on those bases, I still had a good time with the third film, even if it fell off from the prior two installments.
Milam's Musings 